By Kevin Scott
GREAT FALLS, Mont., August 7, 2022 — The North American 3 Hockey League’s (NA3HL) Great Falls Americans are pleased to announce that standout forward Jackson Henningsgard will continue his education and hockey career at a ACHA Division I school in Oregon for the upcoming 2022-23 season.
Henningsgard, who calls Amery, Wisconsin home, will join the University of Oregon (UO) Ducks club hockey squad in the fall of 2022. The University of Oregon is in Oregon’s second most populous city, Eugene, which is about 104 miles from Portland, Oregon. UO has an enrollment of 22,000 students at their main campus and offers over 316 undergraduate and graduate students. Their college hockey program is a club varsity team that is a Division 1 member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) and is guided by Rylee Orr, who is entering his sixth season on the bench for the Ducks. The Oregon hockey team competes in the Pacific 8 Intercollegiate Hockey Conference (PAC-8) comprising of schools in Utah, Washington, California, and Arizona.
Henningsgard played 56 regular season and 10 postseason games with the Great Falls Americans after coming over in a February 2021 trade with the NA3HL’s St. Louis Jr. Blues. The Wisconsin native provided 20 goals and 35 assists for Great Falls during the 2021-22 season. His two best statistical performances during his final season with Great Falls came against the Sheridan (WY) Hawks (October 16, 2021) and February 26th contest against the Yellowstone (WY) Quake, where he had one goal and dished out four assists in two victories.
The former Americans standout under Americans head coach Greg Sears was also selected and played in the 2022 NA3HL Top Prospects Tournament, which included many scouts in attendance during the two-day February 2022 tournament in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He accumulated one assist for Team Blue.
Henningsgard was recognized for his playing efforts for the Americans. During the 2021-22 campaign, he earned Frontier Division Honorable Mention Star of the Week four times and had one “2nd Star” nomination. In his first season (2020-21), Jackson, who came over in a trade in February, had one Frontier Division Star of the Week honor, one Frontier Division Star of the Week Honorable Mention, and was named as a Frontier Division Honorable Mention Star of the Month in March 2021.
Before his junior hockey career began, Henningsgard played high school hockey in his home state of Wisconsin for Amery High School (Amery, WI) for four years (2016-2020) and played in 16 contests for the Minnesota Mullets of the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) during the 2019-20 season.
He had many accomplishments while playing Junior A hockey in Great Falls including learning how to become a team leader, how to improve his game and how to contribute off the ice as well as there were so many great people within the Americans organization including team owner Rob Rasmussen, Head Coach Greg Sears, and the billet families to name a few. “You become a better person by being around positive people within the organization,” said the newest recruit for the University of Oregon men’s hockey team.
Jackson said playing Junior A hockey has helped in many levels on and off the ice as he transitions to playing collegiately. “I tried to get better daily, and my statistics show I got better every year. I have always wanted to play at the college level and now it is coming true,” said Henningsgard. “I am grateful that played at the Junior A level as it has prepared me well for college.”
Jackson said “being able to get the chance to play at the University of Oregon” is awesome. He has been playing hockey for 18 years and this is one of the goals he is about to embark on in September and he knows is hard work is paying off in the classroom and on the ice.
Henningsgard, who will report for training camp in Eugene, Oregon on September 13 before classes and official practices begin on September 27, has not committed to a major yet but he would like to get a business-related major with an interest in Accounting, Marketing and Financials.
The former Wisconsin prep standout was very grateful for his time in Great Falls. The Great Falls fans are amazing and passionate about hockey and the support from the community and the entire Americans organization was unbelievable.
“I had two great host families in my two years there in Mike and Jenn Fines and Dawn and Jamie Boyer, who made my stay enjoyable and helped with anything I needed,” said Henningsgard in a phone interview from Wisconsin.
“Jackson is really excited about his opportunity in Oregon, and we are really happy that he will be continuing his hockey career at the collegiate level,” said Great Falls Americans Head Coach and General Manager, Greg Sears. “He is a good kid, and I am excited to see him continue to grow as a person and hockey player at the University of Oregon.”
The Americans had several other players commit to colleges of their choice including Hunter Maschke (Hope College, Michigan, ACHA DIII), Carter Schuller (University of Montana, ACHA DII), Will Simpson (West Virginia University, ACHA DI), and Jay Alford (Montana State University, ACHA DII).
Click here to view Jackson Henningsgard’s statistics for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons.
Click here for a full listing of the NA3HL college commitments.
Additional Media Coverage: August 7, 2022: North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL): Great Falls forward Henningsgard makes college commitment
